A Code for Chaos

NY Times writes: "In June, a Belarus-based computer security firm identified a new computer malware program, Stuxnet, which was repeatedly crashing the computers of one of its clients. Then, last month, a German security researcher suggested that the program’s real target might be the Iranian nuclear program — and that clues in the coding suggested that Israel was the creator. Since then, there has been growing alarm about the worm, as its target and sophistication have become more apparent. The code has appeared in many countries, notably China, India, Indonesia and Iran. It appears designed to attack a certain type of Siemens industrial control computer, used widely to manage oil pipelines, electrical power grids and many kinds of nuclear plants. The question is: Just how dangerous has this worm and cyberwarfare become?"